Tales from South Island

People say that the North Island is beautiful and the South Island 'Wow'. Not only 'wow' we found but incredibly empty - the total population of NZ is about half that of London, and a large proportion live in the Auckland area. So no traffic jams, no parking problems, and miles and miles of road without even a house in sight.

We've just returned from a few weeks of exploring mountains, glaciers, and fjords. The fertile plains in between are great fruit growing areas, and the late summer crops of apples, pears and grapes have been available at roadside stalls at good prices. Just in the last few days the kiwi fruit harvest has started too. Lots of fruit-picking jobs available. It is easy to eat well here, large green-lipped mussels often on the menu as well as local lamb and beef. Interestingly in the land of trout streams galore, trout may not be sold so you have to catch your own.

We have collected greenstone (NZ jade) pebbles from the beach, and some of the beautiful pau or abalone shells, but the chief hunter gatherer hasn't found much in the wild to eat on our travels - just a few blackberries and tiny wild apples.

Our travels took us from the ferry port of Picton to the Abel Tasman National Park where we walked for a day through tidal flats then coastal forest and bush with stops at golden beaches along the way. Then a couple of days near the Franz Joseph and Fox Glaciers. It's not possible to get very close to either unless you join a guided group. Instead we took paths up the sides of the valleys that gave us good views down onto the ice. Ice which has a grubby look at the moment due to ash from the Australian bush fires. The well known Lake Matheson is in this area. It appears on postcards and tourist books everywhere because of its reflective surface which mirrors the snow-covered mountains behind. Important to be there at dawn before the breeze comes up - which we were - and we joined several camper vans in the car park who had stayed there overnight. One man was drinking a cup of coffee, and we told him that we were going to brew some tea (we have a little trangia in the car). He thought we had said that we were 'Bruce and T' so proceeded to introduce himself too. A good laugh all round.

Next stop was further south in the Fiordland area. Not only are several of the inlets called 'sounds' - which would mean that they are sunken and flooded river estuaries (which they are not, they are glacial); but the local spelling of fjord is fiord. Why not, and it's beautiful anyway. We took a boat trip on Milford Sound. The road leading there was an employment project during the depression, but a tunnel which linked the final part of the road wasn't finished until 1953. The tortuous route is often closed by rock falls and snow - in the winter check points are set up to ensure that vehicles have snow chains and know how to use them. Milford Sound is like a Norwegian Fjord. Very steep sided with very deep water. Lots of waterfalls and quite spectacular. The captain was quite happy to chat to people while he navigated close to the rocky cliffs to look at basking seals, birds and trees and shrubs; and as he was an experienced sailor we spent quite a lot of time with him. A visit to an underwater observatory was interesting - because of a comparatively shallow bar at the entrance to the sound, rain water (of which there is a huge amount in the region) tends to sit on top of the salt instead of being mixed by the tide. This diminishes the penetration of light, and corals and other growths that are normally found in very deep water here grow at fairly shallow areas so can be seen in the underwater area through large glass windows.

At this stage of our trip the weather took a turn for the worse, so we never did get a view of Mount Cook. We did go up the high Arthur's Pass, and found ourselves in newly fallen snow. Luckily the cloud was intermittent, and every now and then we got lovely views of the snowy peaks around. A day later, when we reached Christchurch, we had gorgeous sunshine again and a blue sky. Had a very pleasant day wandering around this city that was started by a group of worthies from Christchurch College Oxford plus various senior churchmen. They hoped (in 1849) to create a 'new Jerusalem', a middle class,Victorian community with high moral ideas. The first 300 settlers found life pretty hard, so survival took the place of high ideals, but they designed and made a lovely city.

At this stage Easter was upon us, and unknown to us we had arrived in a town where there was a biennial air show. Luckily we had booked our accommodation the day before as everything was full, and conversation in the communal kitchen of our motor camp was all about old WWI planes which were flying. We were not so organised the next night, and a jazz festival meant that we had to get well out of town to find a bed. Luck was on our side though, we found a quiet and peaceful camp by a river and with slopes of grape vines all around. Very run down and tatty, but clean and cheap. There was also a vintage Jaguar rally on somewhere as we kept passing some wonderful old E-types and even older cars.

We had wondered if we would meet up with anyone we knew on our travels, and twice bumped into familiar faces as we cooked our dinner in communal kitchens or BBQ places. And in Wellington we were able to stay with friends on board their boat.

Our old car has done pretty well so far ('old' in that it has a cassette player, and no CD slot). It decided to let us down just once when we had stopped in a remote picnic area near a lake. We were quickly plagued by sand flies so decided to move on, but the car had other ideas and there wasn't a peek from the battery. No jump leads (lesson learned!) and it's not possible to push an automatic car. So a parks employee mowing the grass radioed his base and got them to look up the phone number of the only mechanic within a 50 km radius. He drove over, started our car, and we followed him to base. One new battery and a large bill later and we were on our way again, well bitten round ankles and wrists by the pesky sandflies.

And so back to base. We have a sun awning being made, having decided that it was too big a job to do ourselves, and are busy painting and getting the teak work in the cockpit finished. Still lots to do, but we launch at the beginning of next month, and then need to get going before winter sets in. Then stand by for more adventures.